Bluesweek Featuring Boo Boo Davis, Arthur Williams, Chainsaw DuPont & Big George Brock – FREE ADMISSION
Event on 2012-05-27 12:00:00
Supporting Acts: Kelley Hunt, Bottom Up Blues Gang, Super Chikan, Billy Peek
Boo Boo Davis
Boo Boo Davis is a survivor and belongs to the last generations of musicians that write and play the blues based on first hand experience of a hard life in the Mississippi Delta. He was born and raised in Drew, Mississippi in the heart of Delta. It was the richest cotton land in the South and the large amounts of field workers attracted the best musicians from the surrounding areas. The entire Delta region was rich with blues, but the town of Drew was a particularly fertile one. Charley Patton stayed near Drew for many years and several legendary performers spent time there. Sharecroppers sang loudly to help pass the grueling hours of work and without a doubt Boo Boo developed his loud, bellowing voice based on the singing he heard in the fields as a young boy. In fact, that voice, through the years has demolished many amps and speaker cabinets. Boo Boo's father, Sylvester Davis farmed cotton and played several instruments. Musicians who he played with include John Lee Hooker, Elmore James and Robert Pete Williams. Boo Boo remembers these and other musicians dropping by and rehearsing at their house. At the age of five Boo Boo was playing the harmonica and singing in church with his mother. By thirteen he was playing guitar, and by eighteen he was playing out with his father and older brothers under the name of The Lard Can Band. This band travelled all throughout the Delta. In the early sixties he went north to St Louis and was around during the heyday of the St Louis music scene (Albert King, Ike Turner, Chuck Berry and many others). Together with his brothers they were the weekend house band in Tabby's Red Room in East St Louis for eighteen years. Even though Boo Boo moved north to St. Louis, he will always be a southerner at heart. When he is at home (and not performing) his favorite pastimes are hunting with his dogs and fishing. During Boo Boo's childhood there was no time or money for him to go to school so he never learned to read and write. However that did not prevent him to travel all over the world. Following his guiding spirit (that he calls Dave) Boo Boo has found a way to deal with modern society. The blues helps him to keep his spirit high and survive day-to-day life. It deals with all the basic raw elements of life; good and bad, plain and simple. His first European tour took place in April 2000 and since then Boo Boo is touring Europe at least twice a year. So far Boo Boo has released 5 CD's on Black and Tan Records and all of them were very well received. Number 4 (DREW, MISSISSIPPI) was listed with the 10 best blues records of 2006 by MOJO Magazine (UK). In 2007 Boo Boo was invited to perform on the POCONO BLUES FESTIVAL, one of the biggest blues festivals in the USA and in March 2007 Boo Boo performed live on CBC Radio One, national radio in Canada. What started as a crazy idea after the European tour of Boo Boo in October 2007 has turned out to be not too crazy at all. On the Spring Tour of 2008 they decided to leave out the bass and tour as a trio (Boo Boo + drums & guitar). In June 2008 they went into the studio and the CD (NAME OF THE GAME) was released in September 2008. In the summer of 2009 the trio played a string of big blues & jazz festivals (Montreux, Peer, Juan les Pins, Amal, Olstzyn etc) all over Europe. During those long travels they got a lot of ideas for new songs. So in the middle of the tour they went into the studio for two days and recorded a CD (AIN'T GOTTA DIME). The latest record is called UNDERCOVER BLUES and was released in December 2010. All songs were played live in the studio without any overdubs and for most songs the first take turned out to be the best one. This is exactly how they sound live. Unlike many modern blues bands, Boo Boo and his band focus on the groove, the feel, and the basic truths found in the blues. Blues doesn't come any 'realer' than this.
Chainsaw DuPont
CHAINSAW DUPONT has defied and embraced the fates from day one. His life experience is expressed in his "Street Trilogy" of CDs: Lake St. Lullaby, Bourbon St. Breakdown, and Ghost Kings of Beale St. He was born on Friday, August 13th, 1956, in McComb, Mississippi, a town so small that shotgun houses were the norm, and grew up in Swan Lake in the Mississippi Delta, where almost everyone worked on the nearby plantation. His mother, a piano player who had received lessons from a young Fats Domino in New Orleans, was so superstitious that she celebrated David's birthday on August 12th until his 13th birthday, when she finally 'fessed up. By that time, she had encouraged him to play music; his father, a promising boxer, had left the family permanently for New Orleans. David had picked cotton, a job which persisted until the late 60s, when mechanization finally overtook manual labor, and he had been in bands with his 3 brothers. "That first band didn't last very long. One Christmas – I was about 3 years old – my mother got us all musical instruments. My grandmother was watching us one day, and she left out somewhere, told us to stay in the house. We decided we had a marching band, and started walking along 24 Highway, which was a pretty busy road there, near McComb, to the general store in town. When my grandmother found out we was playing along that highway, which was dangerous, she whipped the older boys with a switch. I got off because she figured I was too young to know any better". He ran away from home at 14, headed south to New Orleans in search of his father, eventually staying with relatives there. By the time he returned to Swan Lake, his mother had been killed in a mysterious auto accident, and he went north with an older brother to Chicago's west side, attended high school, and began to play guitar. "I got to Chicago in October '71 and I didn't even have a coat. I started playing guitar seriously in February '72. We were partyin' at a friend's house, I heard a Sly & the Family Stone record, & decided I had to play a guitar so I could play this riff on that record. We went to this girl Darlene's house – it was like 4 in the morning – we told her I needed to borrow her guitar. Even today, when I hear that lick, it moves me. I started to play all day from 10 in the morning till 10 at night." Music has ruled his life since then, and he traveled the country, playing in a wide variety of bands, including jazz, reggae, and even backing up a black Elvis impersonator. Chainsaw was homeless for a time, met a young Stevie Ray Vaughan, narrowly missed being killed by white supremacists, and generally lived an itinerant life during that time, until settling back in Chicago in the late 80s. After several band projects, and a demo recording, he caught the attention of blues harp legend Junior Wells, and hooked up for an international tour that included Japan, in the coveted spot as Junior's guitarist. He continued writing songs in collaboration with Chicago producer / lyricist Steve "MrBiG" Pasek, in a style he calls "Delta crush", a sort of industrial blues that would eventually see daylight on "Lake Street Lullaby", a collection of original songs released independently in the Fall of 2003. His experiences growing up on the plantation, on the road as a homeless musician, and playing the Chicago blues circuit have all contributed to the album, which is part of a larger "blues opera" that attempts to narrate the blues experience. Working with bands in both the trio format popularized on Chicago's west side, as well as the larger configurations favored by Muddy Waters and other south side players, he is collaborating and developing new takes on urban blues that reflect more modern influences yet pay tribute to the classics — still tempting the fates by taking chances, but choosing his notes carefully in his songcraft. His debut CD, "Lake St. Lullaby", includes a song cycle of 13 originals that document the journey he and so many other bluesmen have made from the Mississippi Delta to Chicago, and marked him as one of the brightest songwriting talents on the Chicago scene today. The release of "Bourbon St. Breakdown", his second full CD, and the second part of a blues trilogy, contained another 13 originals, in a variety of Louisiana styles, and in 2007 he released "Ghost Kings of Beale St.", a Memphis-themed record, to complete the trilogy. Two live releases, "Acoustified/Electrified", and "The Real Guitar Hero", released in 2010, bookend the Trilogy, featuring live recordings made before, during, and after the process of developing the "Blues Street Trilogy". The discs have received airplay on Sirius/XM's Bluesville channel, as well as on syndicated blues radio programs "Blues with the Red Rooster" and "Blues Deluxe", and the British program "Raven 'n the Blues". He's received favorable reviews in the U.S. and European blues magazines, who have praised his original take on the idiom.
Arthur Williams
Born in Mississippi, Arthur Williams is one of the few remaining authentic Delta-style blues harp masters. While growing up in Chicago, Williams carefully listened to the records and radio broadcasts of his two idols, Sonny Boy Williamson and Little Walter. He went on to play with Elmore James, Eddie Taylor, James Cotton, Junior Wells, and the great Muddy Waters. Arthur's harp prowess on Frank Frost's 1966 album earned the respect of legions of music critics and fellow bluesmen. After moving to St. Louis, Williams recorded and toured with Big Bad Smitty. An incredibly gifted harmonica player, Williams is finally achieving his long-overdue recognition as a world-class musician.
Big George Brock
Today, there are more blues festivals than at any other time in the history of the world. Not surprisingly, there are plenty of excellent blues players available to perform at them. But how many bluesmen are left? You know, the real deal. The genuine article. Big-voiced blues veterans who came up the hard way in a time before rock music – when picking cotton was the only work and dinner meant black-eyed peas. Well, the days when blues was pop music and bluesmen were heroes have sadly passed, but there are still a few of those real-deal men (and women) out there. Big George Brock is just such a man. Sharecropper, boxer, club owner and, through it all, an honest-to-Muddy bluesman. From the cotton fields to the bright lights, big city, Brock has done it all. He's faced personal and professional ups and downs but never given up. Even today, with all the aches and pains of old age, the blues still lift him up. Born in Grenada, Mississippi on May 16, 1932, Big George spent his teenage years near Clarksdale, Mississippi, before settling in St. Louis, Missouri, in the 1950s. While living in the Clarkdale area, he did back-breaking fieldwork, boxed on weekends, and played the blues. He remembers hanging out at house parties in the Delta where folks like Memphis Minnie would show up. Even today, he still has relatives in the Clarksdale area, including his blues-playing nephew James "Super Chikan" Johnson and brother-in-law Big Jack Johnson. In St. Louis, Big George owned a series of blues clubs in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, including Club Caravan (formerly the Early Bird Lounge) – where his wife at the time was killed by stray bullets from a drunk's pistol – and New Club Caravan. Later, Big George & the Houserockers was the house band at Climmie's Western Inn for 12 years. During his career, Big George has played shows with blues legends like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Reed and many others. Garrick Feldman of the Arkansas Leader has said Big George is "about as good a harmonica player as any of the blues greats, and he knew and played with most of them." At various times, he's had fellow Mississippians Willie Foster, Big Bad Smitty, Terry "Big T" Williams, Jimbo Mathus and Bill Abel back him at shows, but most often, you'll find him with one of the best "unknown guitar players" in the biz: Mr. Riley Coatie. Besides his 6-string skills, this native of the Arkansas Delta is also known for his amazing family blues band. Coatie taught his children Tekora, Latasha and Riley Jr. to play in the old classic style that Big George Brock loves. May 12, 2006 – exactly one year and five days after he recorded his Club Caravan album – Big George Brock returned to a Mississippi studio to lay down tracks for a much anticipated follow-up CD. In those 370 days, a lot happened in Brock's world. In August 2005, he took part in Mississippi Public Broadcasting's Native Sons concert film project (since re-named Mississippi Bluesmen). In October, Steven Seagal tapped Brock to blow harp on the actor-musician's all-star blues album, Mojo Priest. In November, the Blues Foundation announced Brock's "Comeback of the Year" Blues Music Award nomination – a designation soon followed by several "year end" top CD lists and even a Living Blues Award nomination. By January 2006, Brock's own story in words and music had been captured on film by director Damien Blaylock and, on May 8, 2006, was released nationally on the DVD Hard Times.
at St Louis Soldiers’ Memorial
1315 Chestnut Street
Saint Louis, United States
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